Parallel ringing is one of many advanced features offered by communication service providers such as, for example, providers of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and/or public switched telephone network (PSTN) based communication services. When parallel ringing is enabled for a telephone number, a call placed to the telephone number causes additional configured telephone numbers to ring at substantially the same time. In some example systems, parallel ring is offered as a user and/or consumer configurable service that can be configured by a user and/or consumer using, for example, a web portal. The user and/or consumer specifies and/or configures a telephone number with the additional telephone numbers to be rung when a call is placed to the telephone number.
As used herein, parallel ringing is meant to indicate that one phone call causes multiple devices of the same or different phone numbers to ring or otherwise give an indication of a call. The ringing may occur at substantially the same time depending upon network characteristics, etc. An example parallel ring service is commonly referred to in the industry as simultaneous ring. However, the term parallel ringing will be used herein as the additional telephone numbers that are rung may not actually ring simultaneously, even if a user perceives them to do so.
A parallel ring tree can be described by its depth. For example, a telephone call placed to a telephone number A0 can be configured to ring three children (e.g., B1, B2, B3) in parallel representing a parallel ring tree of depth 1. If one of the children (e.g., B2) is configured to ring two children (e.g., C1, C2), the parallel ring tree increases to a depth of 2. In general, the depth of a parallel ring tree is defined by the maximal level that a call to single telephone number can reach.
As more users and/or consumers subscribe and/or utilize parallel ringing, the potential for inadvertent and/or deliberate abuse of parallel ring increases. For example, a user may easily configure a parallel ring tree such that a single phone call placed to a telephone number causes hundreds of phones to ring thereby dramatically increasing the call processing and/or call handling requirements for the communication network. Currently, service providers rely on the user and/or consumer to employ reasonable parallel ring tree configurations and/or retain configuration rights for parallel ring services.